North Pier Brings Back Memories

April 30, 1989

Paul Gapp`s article about North Pier (The Arts, April 16) brought back memories of the years when RCA Victor had a recording studio there. I was a member of the old Art Kassel band, called ``Art Kassel and his Castles in the Air,`` and we cut RCA records on their Bluebird label. That was before World War II, and I stayed with the band until I was drafted into the Navy. Thanks for reminding me of a very pleasant period in my life.

SOURCE: Cub Higgins, Chicago

PIER PARTICIPATION As developer of North Pier Chicago, we were very pleased with Paul Gapp`s praise of it (The Arts, April 16). We appreciate the recognition you have given our project. Therefore, we would like to take this opportunity to clarify the participation in the transformation of the Pier.

Booth/Hansen & Associates was an initial participating architect for the project. Their services were terminated in December, 1987. The architect of record was the Chicago office of the Austin Co. Before Booth/Hansen`s termination and after, the Austin Company was a major contributor to the development of the project. On Broadacre`s side, Nancy Bush, Francis Freeman and myself worked closely with the architect to achieve the design effect. SOURCE: Robert Meers President, Broadacre Development Co.

SNAPPING TURTLE Under normal circumstances, the well-behaved record executive is expected to suffer bad reviews stoically. But Howard Reich`s attack (Overnight, April 4) on the Turtle Island String Quartet is so vitriolic, yet poorly

substantiated, that a counterattack seems only fair.

Reich evaluates the ensemble exclusively in terms of their presumed

``imitation`` of the Kronos Quartet, which Reich holds up as a model for the combination of jazz and classical traditions.

As it happens, Kronos` own members would be quick to concede that their periodic investigations of jazz repertoire (notably the works of Thelonious Monk and Bill Evans) are not jazz performances in the conventional sense, in that the quartet does not improvise.

By contrast, the Turtle Island String Quartet makes improvisation an essential, even central, component of their work.

SOURCE: Sam Sutherland, director, Windham Hill Jazz

HOORAY FOR SHAPEY What a wonderful article by John von Rhein on composer Ralph Shapey (The Arts, April 9).

Years ago, I worked my way through the musical highways, seeking out my path as a dramatic soprano. I was at the Third Street Music School Settlement in New York, where Shapey held forth with his classes. I premiered his songs at the school, and although they were very difficult, I wish I had continued to do more. The same (resistance) toward his music existed there, but he never wavered. His teaching was wonderful-students understood what music was all about.

Years later, I arranged for Shapey to act as one of the judges in a Chicago competition for contemporary composers. I chuckle loud and long when I think of his comments on the quality of work he had to judge. But he was right, as always. His standards would not be compromised in any shape or manner.

SOURCE: Mrs. Paula Sims, Oak Lawn

ELLERBE AT HOME Ellerbe Becket Inc. takes exception to your categorizing us as an invading outside firm diverting work away from Chicago firms (Paul Gapp,

``Chicago Architects Under Siege,`` The Arts, April 9).

The Chicago office of Welton Becket Associates was established in 1970, as a result of a merger with Childs & Smith Inc., an architectural firm that had been in practice since 1912. A recent merger with Ellerbe Associates changed us to an autonomous, self-sufficient local office of a nationwide firm.